Pindi ministers skip governor’s meeting on Senate by-polls

LAHORE: All three ministers from Rawalpindi district did not turn up at the divisional parliamentary meeting, chaired by Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar in Islamabad on Tuesday, called to devise Senate by-polls strategy.

Besides, one more MPA elected from the district, Ejaz Khan alias Jaazi Khan, also did not attend the meeting in protest against the apathetic attitude of the leadership. However, he vowed to vote for Waleed Iqbal, the party candidate for Senate election while showing his great devotion to Allama Iqbal, the grandfather of Waleed.

The parliamentary meeting of Rawalpindi Division was held at Punjab House, Islamabad and was also attended by federal ministers Fawad Chaudhry, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, MNA Sadaqat Abbasi, MPAs Malik Tamiur, Adnan Chaudhry, provincial minister Raja Yasir Hamayun and others.

In the same division, Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) also has one MPA, Hafiz Ammar Yasir, who hails from Chakwal, who won the seat after his party entered into an alliance with the PTI. This is noteworthy that the PTI, in the last general elections, has almost swept the elections from Rawalpindi division that includes districts of Attock, Pindi, Chakwal and Jhelum, whereas it also won both the NA seats of Islamabad. In this way, Potohar region emerged as one of the strongholds of the PTI in July 25 elections, and it is one of the most important constituencies of Tehreek-e-Insaf in Senate by-polls where a neck and neck contest is expected between it and PML-N. The PML-N has also fielded two political heavyweights i.e. Saud Majeed and Saira Afzal Tarar.

In the meeting, three Punjab ministers elected from Pindi district including Raja Basharat, Fayyaz Chohan and Raja Rashid Hafeez, didn’t attend the meeting. All these parliamentarians were PML-Q MPAs in the era of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi. Raja Basharat and Rashid Hafeez were elected on the PML-Q ticket whereas Fayyaz Chohan defected to PML-Q after winning on the MMA ticket in 2002. All the three, particularly Raja Basharat and Fayyaz Chohan still have very good relationship with Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, whose words were recently caught on a leaked tape in which he asked Jehangir Tareen to “control Sarwar, he will not let Buzdar work”.

Sources said that the meeting of PTI Rawalpindi division legislators turned into an open court in which members openly spoke against the three ministers of Rawalpindi district and alleged that they were showing no concern to address the complaints of party members.

The PTI members, on the occasion, conveyed to Ch Sarwar that Rawalpindi district had been a PML-N stronghold, which been taken over by Tehreek-e-Insaf now. Nevertheless, still the local administration and police were ignoring the instructions of PTI’s elected members and obliging the PML-N figures.

Some of the speakers, on the occasion, also lambasted the ‘merit policy’ of the PTI and told the leadership that the local administration was treating the PML-N and the PTI differently.

The cold response to their complaints by the three Ministers of Pindi district also came under discussion and they were also flayed for their absence by some of the participants.

When MPA Ejaz Khan Jaazi was asked about skipping the meeting, he said “it was better to serve someone in your constituency instead of attending a useless meeting.”

The News also tried to contact all the three ministers from Rawalpindi district, out of which two were available for comments.

Raja Basharat, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, told The News that he was extended an invitation. But due to his official engagements in Lahore, he couldn’t attend the meeting. While responding to question related to the complaints of party elected MNAs, MPAs, Raja Basharat stated every member of party was held in great esteem and with the passage of time, things would improve further.

Fayyaz Chohan, the Minister for Information Punjab, who also didn’t attend the meeting when contacted said that he had official meetings in Lahore due to which he could not attend it.

While responding to complaints of party legislators from the district, he stated that neither there were any differences in the party nor he was away from his colleagues.

“Even right now, I am with party MPAs, I am always connected to them’ said Fayyazul Hassan Chohan.

Raja Rashid Hafeez, another minister from Pindi, who holds the portfolio of Revenue was contacted but he didn’t respond.

The Senate by-polls in Punjab are scheduled for Nov 15 and Chaudhry Sarwar, the Punjab governor has been actively campaigning for the party candidates. He himself got elected as Senator in March this year and vacated the seat after taking oath as governor. On his vacant seat, Dr Shehzad Waseem of the PTI emerged victorious with a margin of 12 in which Sarwar also played an important role.

Addressing the meeting, Chaudhry Sarwar said that people should know that their representatives were in the government today and now their problems would be solved at their door steps.

He added that the government would ensure their welfare by all means adding tough decisions will have to be taken without affecting the common man. The Punjab governor said public representatives have dedicated their days and nights to service of people under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan. Federal Minister for Information Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf would contest Senate elections with full preparation and win both seats.